Executive Coaching: it’s all in the relationship!

In November, Kate Cowie spoke at the 7th HR Management and Human Capital Conference in Nicosia, Cyprus on the subject of executive coaching. Here is an extract from her speech:

“There are many reasons why professional executive coaching is now big business. The more senior we become, the fewer people are available to us to challenge our thinking, to give us honest feedback, to hold us to the behavioural commitments that we make, and so on. The need is real: it’s lonely at the top. And so a cottage industry has arisen of certification programmes and supervision schemes to ensure a good supply of good coaches to satisfy this organisational need. But buyers beware. Many great coaches do not have these formal badges, and some of those who do may not be able to meet the particular needs of the leaders in your organisation. And why? Because great coaching is not something you can teach. It is not, as it is often described, a structured, orderly ‘process’. There are, of course, some fundamentals that must be observed - aspects of best practice that are well understood and can be easily taught. They will, predictably, lead to good coaching. But the most successful coaching journeys are not formulaic. They are complex, dynamic and generative relationships that occur at the intersection of two people’s life experiences. It is as simple and as difficult as that.”

If you would like to learn more about our approach to executive coaching, please contact: info@thechaosgame.com